/ 


The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of 
Lutheranism  in  the  Present  Reli- 
gious Situation  in  this  Country. 


2d  Sermon 

DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD 
OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH, 

AT  SUNBURY,  PA.,  MAY  22,  I907, 

tfje  President, 

REV.  DAVID  H.  BAUSLIN,  D.  D., 

George  D.  Harter  Professor  of  Historical  and  Practical  Theology 
in  the  Hamma  Divinity  School,  Springfield,  Ohio. 


GARRETT  BIBLICAL  INSTITUTE 
EVANSTON,  ILLINOIS.  „ 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR 
BY  THE 

LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


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The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of 
Lutheranism  in  the  Present  Reli- 
gious Situation  in  this  Country. 


H Sermon 


DELIVERED  AT  THE  OPENING  OF  THE  GENERAL  SYNOD 
OF  THE  EVANGELICAL  LUTHERAN  CHURCH, 

AT  SUNBURY,  PA.,  MAY  22,  I907, 

tfje  President, 

REV.  DAVID  H.  BAUSLIN,  D.  D., 

George  D.  Harter  Professor  of  Historical  and  Practical  Theology 
in  the  Hamma  Divinity  School,  Springfield,  Ohio. 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  AUTHOR 
BY  THE 

LUTHERAN  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY 

PHILADELPHIA,  PA. 


I 


37  12  The  Publisher 


FOREWORD. 


It  is  not  surprising  that  many  requests  have  come  to  Dr. 
Bauslin  for  the  publication  of  this  sermon,  which  as  Presi- 
dent of  the  General  Synod,  he  delivered  at  its  opening,  at 
Sunbury,  Pa.,  May  22d,  1907.  Although  published  in  the 
church  papers,  it  was  felt  that  so  able  and  thoughtful  a ser- 
mon should  be  placed  in  more  permanent  and  accessible 
form  for  those  who  desired  to  refer  to  it  for  instruction  and 
inspiration  as  to  the  mission  of  the  Lutheran  church  in  these 
days  of  stress  and  subtle  unbelief. 

The  sermon  is  timely,  as  it  gives  an  estimate  of  the  cur- 
rents of  religious  thought  and  of  the  destructive  philosophy 
and  rationalism  of  the  day  that  is  based  on  careful  observa- 
tion and  extensive  reading  and  that  is  the  outcome  of  well 
balanced  judgment  joined  to  keen  insight  as  to  their  practi- 
cal outcome.  The  word  of  warning  is  weighty  and  worthy 
of  careful  consideration.  The  positive  statement  of  the  doc- 
trines that  constitute  the  religion  of  Christ  based  upon  the 
Scriptures  and  His  own  teaching  is  happily,  if  briefly, 
stated,  calling  men  in  these  latitudinarian  days  back  to  the 
vital  truths  without  which  the  Church  has  lost  its  mission 
and  the  gospel  is  shorn  of  its  power. 

The  tribute  he  pays  to  the  Lutheran  church,  whilst  de- 
served, is  inspiring,  calling  Lutherans  to  consider  the  glory 
of  their  church,  which  shines  out  in  her  clear  statements  of 
truth  and  in  her  faithful  and  consistent  witness  to  the  essen- 
tial saving  truths  of  the  gospel  of  Christ. 

As  a wise  Lutheran,  Dr.  Bauslin  does  not  surrender  the 
truths,  founded  upon  the  word  of  God,  into  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  guided  the  Church  in  the  past ; but  he  also  sees  that 
these  truths  must  be  so  applied  as  to  meet  the  problems  of 

(iii) 


IV 


Foreword. 


the  present,  and  does  not  fear  to  claim  that  the  Church,  as  a 
faithful  householder,  should  bring  forth  treasures  new  as 
well  as  old.  He  is  sanely  conservative,  but  also  open- 
minded  towards  new  truths  and  new  conditions. 

His  closing  words  are  a clarion  call  to  the  Lutheran 
church  to  be  faithful  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  her  doc- 
trines, to  the  different  bodies  into  which  the  Lutheran 
church  is  divided,  in  this  land,  in  these  momentous  days 
of  conflict,  to  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  against  error  and 
and  for  the  faith,  with  charity  one  to  another  and  in  frater- 
nal unity.  He  justly  concludes  that  whilst  we  rejoice  in  a 
splendid  heritage,  we  are  not  to  settle  into  self-satisfaction, 
but  find  therein  the  call  of  Providence  to  move  forward  to 
even  better  and  larger  things  than  the  fathers  so  gloriously 
bestowed  upon  us,  the  children  of  Luther.  It  is  wise  coun- 
sel that  should  be  weighed  and  obeyed. 

It  is,  therefore,  well  that  this  sermon,  though  written  for 
fervid  speech,  should  be  published,  for  underneath  its  elo- 
quent sentences  are  strong  and  timely  thoughts,  which  are 
needed  both  for  the  stimulation  and  edification  of  the  Luth- 
erans of  our  land  in  these  days  of  religious  conflict. 


Charles  S.  Albert. 


The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism  in 
the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country. 


Cfjc  Cext. 

That  ye  stand  fast  in  one  spirit,  and  with  one  soul  striving  for  the 
faith  of  the  gospel. — Phil.  i.  27. 

Contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the  saints. 
—Jude  3. 

Hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast,  that  no  man  take  thy  crown. — 
Rev.  Hi.  1. 

Fathers  and  Brethren  of  the  General  Synod  : 

When  we  come  together  to  consult  for  the 
welfare  of  that  portion  of  the  kingdom  of  God  which  is 
especially  committed  to  our  charge,  it  is  well  for  us  to 
endeavor  to  gird  up  the  loins  of  our  minds  to  meet  the 
duties,  whether  of  battle  or  endurance,  which  may  be 
before  us.  To  this  end  I think  that  in  a time  such  as 
this,  we  might  do  well  to  consider  some  of  the  chief 
difficulties  which  the  Church  is  called  to  face,  neither  re- 
fusing to  recognize  the  existing  dangers,  nor  on  the  other 
hand  exaggerating  them.  It  is  better  candidly  and 
honestly  to  regard  them  with  a brave  and  hopeful  spirit, 
as  men  who  are  not  going  to  be  defeated  by  a craven 
terror  of  defeat.  Every  battle  lost  for  Christ’s  sake  is  a 
battle  won,  even  as  Christ  Himself  crowned  all  the  vic- 
tories of  all  the  ages  by  submitting  to  the  ignominious 
defeat  of  the  cross.  But  the  conflicts  of  Christ’s  wit- 
nesses are  not  all  defeats,  and  always  to  expect  defeat 
is  usually  to  be  defeated.  It  becometh  us  in  our  day 
and  place,  as  the  servants  of  the  Lord,  to  fairly  and  faith- 
fully measure  the  tasks  and  difficulties  that  confront  us. 

(5) 


6 The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

True  it  is  that  the  conflicts  of  the  Church  of  to-day  are 
not  entirely  new. 

The  battle  in  which  we  as  faithful  witnesses  are  to 
participate,  has  been  ever  since  the  Church  was  estab- 
lished, and  yet  the  gates  of  hell  have  not  triumphed. 
Millions  may  deny  the  faith,  but  the  denial  cannot  de- 
stroy the  faith  so  much  as  hasten  their  own  destruction. 
Our  faith  in  an  age  of  unsettlement  and  conflict  does 
not  depend  upon  the  authority  of  men.  In  that  case  we 
should  to-day  have  cause  for  alarm,  as  we  are  compelled 
to  contemplate  accretions  of  error,  distorted  and  dis- 
proportionate conceptions  of  the  truth,  the  bias  of  nar- 
row-mindedness, prejudice  and  superstition,  all  of 
which  tend  continually  to  disfigure  and  obscure  the 
fundamental  facts.  Like  the  moss  that  has  overgrown 
the  fine  old  columns  of  some  dismantled  castle,  these 
need  to  be  cleared  away,  that  the  truth  in  its  simplicity, 
power  and  beauty  may  be  revealed. 

If  we  are  the  teachers  and  confessors  of  a religion 
which  is  capable  of  perversion,  it  is  also  capable  of  con- 
stant rejuvenation  and  of  progressive  comprehension. 

We  shall,  I hope,  do  ourselves  a service,  as  well  as  the 
church  we  love,  if  for  awhile  we  stop  amid  the  “confused 
noise”  of  the  conflicts  of  our  time  in  the  great  sphere  of 
religion,  survey  the  field  where  so  many  are  running  to 
and  fro,  and  direct  our  attention  to  the  really  essential 
points  which  are  threatened,  though  not,  as  I believe, 
imperiled  by  the  assault.  Stormy  years  are  ahead,  say 
many  who  study  the  signs  of  the  times,  and  see  clearly 
that  the  Church  is  to  witness  an  attack  upon  the  funda- 
mental Christian  positions  to  which  previous  history 
furnishes  no  exact  parallel.  The  question  is,  are  we  not 
now  at  one  of  the  standing  times?  Have  we  not  come  to 
a crucial  time  in  the  religious  conflicts  when  a more 
determined  stand  must  be  taken  against  disintegrating 
tendencies  and  destructive  assaults  upon  our  cherished 
faith?  In  an  able  address  recently  given,  Mr.  Robert  E. 
Speer,  able,  spiritual  and  alert  as  to  the  religious  move- 
ments of  his  time,  said,  “Against  the  great  tendencies 
of  the  hour,  we  have  got  to  take  our  stand.”  the  tenden- 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  7 

cies  to  which  he  particularly  referred  being  determined 
attacks  upon  the  supernatural,  the  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  the  attempt  to  substitute  religious  values  for 
historical  facts  and  all  the  allied  efforts  of  the  destructive 
criticism. 

In.  view,  therefore,  of  the  seriousness  of  the  religious 
problems  of  our  day,  I ask  you,  my  brethren,  not  only 
to  fairly  estimate  the  proportions  of  the  dangers  by  which 
it  is  believed  that  the  Christian  religion  is  beset  at  this 
stage  of  the  Church’s  unceasing  conflict  with  error  and 
irreligion,  but  also  to  some  candid  consideration  of  this 
theme,  as  appropriate  to  this  time  and  place, — “The  Mis- 
sion and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism  in  the  Present 
Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.” 

That  mission  and  opportunity,  as  it  seems  to  me,  are 
indicated  in  the  selection  of  texts  I have  chosen,  as 
stability  in  unity,  as  earnestness  of  advocacy,  and  intelli- 
gent persistency.  Our  mission  and  opportunity  amid 
the  currents  and  counter-currents  of  religious  belief  and 
disbelief  is  to  “stand  fast  in  one  spirit  with  one  soul  striv- 
ing for  the  faith  of  the  gospel to  “contend  earnestly 
for  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  unto  the  saints,”  and 
with  the  true  and  sane  conservatism  that  has  marked 
our  history,  “to  hold  fast  that  which  thou  hast,  that  no 
man  take  thy  crown.” 

What  now,  let  us  inquire,  is  the  religious  situation  in 
our  country?  The  present  condition  of  the  Church  is 
affected  and  determined,  of  course,  largely  by  the  present 
age.  It  is  true  indeed  that  the  Church  possesses,  besides 
her  own  peculiar  province,  her  own  laws  of  development, 
and  consequently  her  own  history.  These  she  shares  with 
no  other  society,  by  whatever  name  it  may  be  distin- 
guished. True  she  treads  her  own  path  through  the 
world’s  history,  but  she  does  not  advance  in  entire  inde- 
pendence of  the  age  spirit.  The  present  religious  situa- 
tion, accordingly,  in  its  sources,  is  first  of  all.  a reflection 
of  the  age  through  which  we  are  passing:  a spirit  which 
as  appealing  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men,  has 
somehow  become  exceedingly  popular  in  wide  circles. 
Our  times  have  been  marked  by  much  tangled  conflict 


8 The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

of  opinion,  unsettlement  of  men’s  judgments  upon  a wide 
variety  of  subjects,  and  with  attendant  uncertainty  and 
confusion  of  thought  upon  the  greatest  of  all  themes. 
Every  domain  has  been  invaded  by  revolutionary  doc- 
trines, beliefs  and  misbeliefs,  and  particularly  with  regard 
to  the  verities  and  claims  of  true  religion.  There  is 
indeed  scarcely  any  doctrine  of  religion  whose  reconstruc- 
tion is  not  contended  for  with  all  the  power  of  intellectual 
effort.  This  mental  temper  of  the  age  has  had  much  to  do 
with  fostering  a bogus  and  heretical  gospel,  with  the 
revamping  of  old,  vanquished  heresies,  with  a visible 
lowering  of  Christian  standards,  a certain  vagueness  in 
life  and  doctrine,  together  with  a certain  undesirable  dis- 
ingenuousness in  the  individual.  We  stand  face  to  face 
not  only  with  avowed  indifference  to  religion,  but  with 
evils  no  less  grave  in  consequence  of  the  concessions  of 
professed  Christians,  and  indeed  of  entire  communions, 
to  the  dominant  spirit  of  the  times  and  the  reiterated 
efforts  to  meet  the  assaults  of  skepticism  by  surprising 
compromises. 

Certain  I am  of  this,  that  the  intelligent  thought  of 
this  age  is  occupied  with  Christianity  as  no  other  age  was 
ever  occupied  with  it.  But  by  this  I mean,  of  course, 
not  the  superficial  thought  indicated  in  much  of  the  cur- 
rent magazine  and  newspaper  discussion  of  Christian 
themes,  but  thought  in  its  best  sense,  the  considerate, 
veracious,  earnest  thought  of  the  best  minds  of  all  civil- 
ized peoples.  That  is  undoubtedly  true  at  this  hour.  But 
in  view  of  citations  and  declarations,  that  might  be 
adduced,  it  wo'uld  be  difficult  to  overstate  the  seriousness 
of  the  crisis  that  is  upon  us.  The  questions  involved  in 
present  day  controversies  go  down  to  the  roots  of  the 
Christian  system,  and  beside  them  other  contemporary 
issues  are  inconsiderable.  Certainly  there  must  be  some 
ground  between  a bald  literalism  and  a wild  and  uncon- 
trolled liberalism ; in  other  words,  between  a legitimate 
interpretation  and  a sort  of  interpretation  which  it  is 
quite  impossible  for  the  unsophisticated  mind  to  distin- 
guish from  blank  denial.  It  has  been  alleged  many  times 
that  the  gospel  in  our  day  is  menaced  more  from  within 


in  the  Present  Religions  Situation  in  this  Country.  9 

than  from  without;  that  the  danger  to  be  dreaded  is  not 
so  much  a successful  propaganda  of  avowed  and  hostile 
unbelief,  as  a tacit  abandonment  of  historical  evangelical 
positions  by  Christians  themselves;  that  among  some 
bodies  of  Christians,  whose  orthodoxy  and  stability  of 
character  have  heretofore  commanded  respectful  ad- 
miration, there  is  now  an  ominous  timidity  in  asserting 
the  doctrines  to  which  they  are  committed  by  their 
denominational  standards ; that  in  some  churches  a free 
handling  of  the  Scriptures  which  but  a few  years  ago 
would  have  been  regarded  as  almost  sacrilegious  is  now 
allowed  to  pass  without  rebuke  and  almost  without 
notice that  for  this  cause  the  popular  belief  concerning 
the  Bible  has  become  much  unsettled  and  that  Christian- 
ity itself,  or  at  least  what  has  passed  current  as  Chris- 
tianity with  many  people,  has  been  slipping  away  from 
the  professed  followers  of  the  Lord.  There  are  those  who 
feel  that  very  much  of  the  religious  thought  in  our  coun- 
try, as  indicated  in  much  of  the  contemporary  theologi- 
cal discussion,  is  drifting,  as  Thomas  DeQuincy  would 
have  said,  down  to  the  Botany  Bay  of  the  universe. 
Such  are  the  admissions  or  accusations  heard  from  every 
side.  Much  of  the  alarm  is  no  doubt  groundless,  but 
there  is  enough,  in  all  seriousness,  to  demand  our  prayer- 
ful and  earnest  attention,  when,  for  example,  institutions 
once  strong  citadels  of  faith  have  become  fortresses  of 
the  enemy,  and  when  many  in  places  of  influence  are 
showing  a fondness  for  changing  the  premises  of  the 
Christian  religion  with  the  varying  impulses  and 
hypotheses  of  astute  professors  at  home  and  abroad.  All 
this  will  be  manifest  from  a fuller  induction  into  the 
facts. 

In  one  prominent  church  an  influential  leader  speaks 
of  “ominous  tokens  of  a possible  disruption.”  In  the 
alleged  interest  of  religion  another  declares  that  the  time 
has  come  to  frankly  disavow  the  old  time  distinction  be- 
tween the  Church  and  the  world,  and  set  up  a theistic 
society  into  which  “all  people  that  on  earth  do  dwell” 
may  come  with  no  questions  asked  save  this,  “Do  you  love 
goodness?”  That  would  no  doubt  mean  the  elimination 


io  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

from  religion  of  a somewhat  troublesome  dualism,  and 
we  should  no  longer  have  to  contemplate  the  scandal  of 
bad  men  in  the  Church  and  good  men  out  of  it.  But  for 
one  I cannot  help  fearing  that  this  sort  of  comprehension 
would  be  secured  at  too  great  a cost  and  would  mean  the 
dropping  out  from  human  life  of  certain  well  approved 
factors,  the  presence  of  which  in  the  Church  have  helped 
us  on  to  where  and  what  we  are.  A cosmopolitan  religion 
that  is  simply  theistic  is  much  too  general  to  be  practi- 
cable and  useful.  It  is  too  hazy  and  nebulous  to  have  any 
message  for  mankind.  It  always  at  last  comes  to  this,  a 
religion  founded  upon  God’s  specific  revelation  of  Him- 
self or  a pure  rationalism  by  which  truth  is  attained  in 
religion  as  it  is  in  physics  or  any  other  realm  of  know- 
ledge— these  are  the  antitheses. 

In  our  day  three  things  occupy  all  serious  minds : 
political  science  which  is  simply  the  divine  law  of  well 
being;  natural  science,  which  includes  the  recorded  ob- 
servations of  the  laws  of  God  in  the  physical  world ; and 
religious  science  or  theology,  which  is  the  study  of  God 
and  man  in  their  several  natures  and  in  their  reciprocal 
relations.  Now  the  world  has  most  unreasonably  ex- 
pected the  Church  to  be  always  ready  to  reconcile  the 
alleged  facts  and  theories  of  science  with  the  recorded 
facts  of  revelation,  whether  or  not  the  facts  alleged  or 
the  theories  founded  thereupon  have  been  sufficiently 
verified.  In  recent  years  much  of  the  current  theology 
has  been  sadly  warped  by  an  attempt  to  twist  it  into 
harmony  with  one  of  these  scientific  hypotheses,  viz., 
that  of  evolution.  Hence  miracles  and  the  supernatural 
now  have  little  value.  But  this  attempt  ought  to  be  held 
in  abeyance  until  a fresh  supply  of  scientific  certainties 
appears.  Undoubtedly  the  old  theology  no  longer  reigns 
in  certain  quarters,  but  certainly  no  better  fate  awaits 
those  who  aim  at  reconstruction  according  to  a science 
which  is  largely  hypothetical.  Finding  themselves  short 
of  material  in  this  region  let  us  hope  that  some  alleged 
theologians  of  the  advanced  order  may  at  last  be  induced 
once  more  to  betake  themselves  to  the  Bible.  But  in 
the  meantime  efforts  are  being  made  to  place  Christian- 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  1 1 

ity  in  the  category  of  mere  evolution  and  thus  to  deprive 
the  teaching  of  our  Lord  of  its  unique  and  transcendent 
value.  It  is  now  affirmed  that  this  law  holds  good  in 
both  the  natural  and  spiritual  worlds:  that  the  physical 
evolution  of  nature  up  to  man  is  being  followed  by  a 
spiritual  evolution  of  man  up  to  God ; that  the  idea  of 
life  presented  by  Mahomet,  by  Buddha,  by  Plato, 
Marcus  Aurelius  and  Goethe  must  be  made  to  coalesce 
with  the  idea  of  life  presented  by  Christ ; that  the  test 
of  Christianity  as  a universal  religion  lies  in  its  power, 
not  of  dominating  and  supplanting  these  other  religions 
but  of  being  assimilated  by  them ; that  this  process  of  as- 
similation is  not  to  be  brought  about  by  preaching  the 
distinctive  doctrines  of  our  holy  religion,  such  as  the  in- 
carnation, the  resurrection  and  ascension  of  the  Lord  as 
facts  upon  which  the  whole  of  God’s  revelation  to  man 
depends,  but  by  preaching  the  “spirit  of  Christ,”  by  in- 
culating  the  “mind  of  Christ.”  by  adjusting  the  gospel  to 
the  alleged  better  spirit  of  our  age.  In  the  application  of 
this  principle  one  has  even  gone  so  far  as  to  declare  that 
he  has  discovered  proof  of  our  Lord’s  lack  of  originality. 
Another  finds  the  golden  rule  in  Plato,  others  having 
found  it  Confucius  and  Tobit  and  Socrates,  in  Hillel, 
Philo  and  Seneca.  Regardless  such  teachers  are  of  the 
tact  that  Jesus  republished  this  rule  of  life  in  its  positive 
form,  thus  making  the  old  truth  new  because  it  was  en- 
dowed with  His  own  power  and  authority;  and  the  other 
fact  that  the  golden  rule  is  forever  associated  with  the 
name  of  Christ,  not  because  He  alone  uttered  it,  but  be 
cause  He  alone  enabled  men  even  to  wish  to  live  it.  He 
is  original  as  the  source  of  that  recreative  energy  from 
which  has  emanated  all  the  transformed  life  which  has 
so  marvelously  differentiated  our  religion  from  pagan- 
ism and  to  which  may  be  traced  practically  all  the  re- 
cuperative, benevolent  and  progressive  influences  of  our 
entire  era. 

So  much  insistence  has  been  placed  upon  the  “imma- 
nence of  God”  as  to  bring  us  dangerously  near  the  border- 
land of  bald  pantheism  and  to  make  it  easv  for  “uneasy 
and  unstable  souls”  to  espouse  all  sorts  of  pantheistic 


1 2 The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

vagaries,  like  mysticism,  “theosophy,”  “Christian 
science,”  “the  new  thought”  and  other  kindred  emotional 
cults.  There  are  indeed  distinct  indications  in  much  of 
the  religious  teaching  now  having  wide  currency,  of  the 
confusion  which  enveloped  antiquity  and  which  befogs 
the  heathen  world.  A Chicago  paper  commenting  recent- 
ly on  some  pulpit  utterances,  said  that  the  world  was 
not  tired  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ,  but  that  it  was 
tired  of  “man-made  religions”  and  of  preachers  who  pro- 
fess to  teach  the  Christian  religion,  but  who  really  teach 
some  so-called  ethical  hodge-podge,  which  is  as  much 
Buddhist  as  Christianity  and  as  much  pantheism  as  it  is 
either.  I refer  to  this  because  it  shows  that  even  the 
men  of  the  secular  press  are  somewhat  awakened  to  the 
disastrous  drift  of  things.  It  means  that  they  are  not 
deceived  by  plausible  terms ; that  they  know  pantheism 
even  when  it  comes  wearing  the  veil  of  “divine  imma- 
nence,” and  when  religion  is  declared  to  have  changed 
all  its  premises,  they  know  that  it  is  in  danger  of  settling 
down  on  the  old  heathen  foundations.  They  seem  to 
know  what  it  means  when  the  Bible  is  classed  with  other 
sacred  books,  and  when  it  is  declared,  to  use  Dr.  Lyman 
Abbott’s  phrase,  that  the  natural  is  supernatural  and  the 
supernatural  is  natural.  They  seem  to  be  aware  that  the 
end  of  all  this,  if  logically  followed  out,  will  be  a religion 
of  nature  instead  of  a religion  of  revelation,  a merely 
“man-made  religion,”  with  a jostling,  screaming  crowd 
of  divinities  up  and  down  the  whole  realm  of  creation. 
They  seem  to  be  aware  that  much  of  the  blunt  assertion 
and  assumption  now  current  in  many  books,  magazines, 
newspapers,  and  in  some  pulpits,  is  only  a declaration  of 
apostasy  from  the  fundamentals  of  Christianity. 

Particularly  with  regard  to  two  primary  doctrines  is 
the  new  teaching  much  astray.  They  pertain  to  the 
person  of  Christ  and  the  sacred  Scriptures.  The  incarna- 
tion stands  alone  in  history.  It  is  not  only  God’s  own 
gracious  answer  to  the  hopes  and  yearnings  of  His  erring 
children  here  on  earth,  but  God’s  own  eternal  truth  which 
far  excels  the  fairest  dreams  of  goodness  men  have  ever 
dreamed ; God’s  own  transcendent  gift  of  life  eternal  far 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  1 3 

exceeding  all  that  we  could  ever  ask  or  think.  Every 
conceivable  perversion  of  this  doctrine  of  the  incarnation 
of  the  Son  of  God  was  debated  in  the  early  history  of  the 
Church  with  such  ability  and  ingenuity  on  the  part  of 
heresy  that  nothing  was  overlooked  and  the  final  settle- 
ment of  the  Catholic  faith  at  Chalcedon  in  A.  D.  451, 
settled  some  things.  If  the  men  who  then  framed  the 
orthodox  interpretation  of  the  incarnation  with  such 
reverent  caution,  overlooked  something  connected  with 
it,  they  certainly  did  not  overlook  the  false  doctrine  of  a 
spurious  philosophy  involved  in  the  idea  of  a true  in- 
carnation of  the  Son  of  God  without  a supernatural  con- 
ception and  a virgin  mother.  From  that  early  age 
Christ’s  pre-existence  as  the  eternal  Logos,  and  His 
birth  of  a virgin,  through  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
has  been  most  assuredly  confessed  and  taught  by  all 
people,  who  have  constituted  much  of  a factor  in  the 
world’s  redemption.  Our  Lord  did  much  more  than 
reveal  the  self-sacrificing  love  of  God  to  mankind.  He 
died  in  our  stead.  He  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins. 
We  are  reconciled  to  God  through  Him.  “Expiation,” 
“substitution,”  “vicariousness,”  and  “ransom,” — all  these 
are  words  used  in  the  entire  history  of  the  Church  in 
attempts  to  explain  the  chief  object  of  Christ’s  mission 
on  earth.  His  death  is  not  that  simply  of  a martyr,  but  is 
the  objective  ground  on  which  the  sins  of  mankind  are 
remitted  and  inward  spiritual  renewal  made  possible. 

Our  Lord’s  doctrine  was  no  speculation.  It  was  force- 
ful and  convincing  and  became  real  to  others  because 
it  was  terribly  real  to  Himself.  He  was  always  positive 
about  His  own  commission  as  the  real  Redeemer  of  men. 
He  taught  without  any  sort  of  ambiguity  that  He  was 
“The  way”  to  God ; that  the  flesh  which  He  should  give 
for  the  life  of  the  world  was  to  be  the  world’s  bread.  He 
preached  His  cross  as  a divine  necessity  and  that  His 
death  was  to  be  the  foundation  of  a new  kingdom  and  of 
future  theologies.  It  is  upon  this  kind  of  basis  of  truth 
that  the  Church  must  be  kept,  as  the  teacher  of  the  truth 
and  the  administrator  of  the  means  of  grace. 

But  our  times  have  witnessed  a strange  declension 


14  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

from  these  lofty  conceptions.  There  is  a widespread 
theology  affirming  itself  to  be  advanced  and  which  makes 
the  claim  of  having  practically  rediscovered  the  genuine 
historical  Jesus  and  of  having  reasserted  in  our  day  the 
real  gospel.  It  has  claimed  that  the  Church  has  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years  forgotten  what  the  Lord  originally 
taught  and  proposed ; that  from  the  beginning  of  the 
apostolic  age  to  the  present  time,  the  Christian  Church 
has  had  one  long  line  of  misunderstandings  and  blunders; 
that  the  real  message  and  nature  of  Jesus  are  now  only 
being  discovered.  The  teachers  of  the  new  view  have  the 
effrontery  and  irreverence  to  claim  that  they  have  given 
to  the  world  a “new  Jesus,”  and  along  with  Him  a new 
religion  which  will  usher  in  the  real  Christian  era  in  the 
long  history  of  the  evolution  of  religions.  Our  divine 
Lord  and  Saviour  is  now  presented  as  a “great  religious 
genius,”  who  out  of  His  own  consciousness  evolved 
ethical  ideals  that  stand  vastly  higher  than  those  of 
His  own  day.  He  is  a model  and  example  to  the  world, 
furnishing  us  with  incentives  and  impulses  to  the  higher 
life.  Jesus  is  the  greatest  of  all,  not  because  He  came 
down  from  heaven  or  because  He  was  the  Son  of  God,  in 
any  such  sense  as  the  Church  has  held  and  confessed,  but 
because  He  was  the  greatest  in  religion,  as  other  men 
have  been  greatest  in  war  or  government  or  philosophy 
or  poetry.  His  teaching  represented  the  highest  point 
reached  by  the  human  race  at  His  time,  in  its  upward 
progress  along  religious  lines.  We  hear  much  about 
the  “mind  of  jthe  Master”  and  the  “teaching  of  Jesus.” 
He  is  emphasized  as  an  “interpreter”  instead  of  an 
interpreter  and  Mediator.  There  is  a widely  prevalent 
theory  that  Jesus  can  be  explained  by  the  same  principles 
used  to  explain  other  religious  leaders;  that  like  them  He 
is  a great  interpreter  of  new  truths  about  the  unchanging 
spiritual  world  and  the  soul  of  man. 

The  endeavor  is  thus  made  to  reduce  the  difference  be- 
tween Jesus  and  other  teachers  to  one  of  mere  degree  and 
not  to  one  of  kind,  to  compass  the  fact  of  Christ  within 
the  lines  of  naturalistic  development. 

That  God  was  in  Christ  is  unmistakable  in  apostolic 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  15 

teaching-,  and  accordingly  just  now  Paul  is  in  serious 
disrepute  with  the  modern  reconstructionists  of  primi- 
tive Christianity.  His  theory  of  atonement,  together  with 
all  that  it  presupposes  and  implies  as  to  subjects  of  sin, 
the  person  and  work  of  the  Redeemer,  are  regarded  as 
having  been  added  by  the  apostle,  and  he  is  alleged  there- 
bv  to  have  perverted  the  original  teaching  of  the  Lord. 

Then,  too,  a strange  and  dangerous  delusion  has 
gained  wide  acceptance  in  many  of  the  churches  of 
Protestanism.  It  is  now  asserted  with  confidence,  by 
even  some  who  sit  in  Moses’  seat,  that  a man  may  keep 
intact  his  faith  in  Christianity,  while  losing  confidence  in 
the  literary  documents  in  which  the  facts  are  stated.  Men 
are  urged  to  believe  in  the  Lord  from  heaven  while  disbe- 
lieving almost  everything  which  He  is  reported  to  have 
said  or  which  is  said  about  Him  in  the  Bible.  The  record 
is  invalidated  while  the  content  is  retained. 

This,  my  brethren,  is  the  conclusion  regarding  the 
present  religious  situation  in  this  country.  The  rational- 
ism of  the  eighteenth  century,  confident  and  brilliant  as 
it  was,  is  surpassed  for  depth  and  strength  and  breadth  of 
application  by  the  negative  thinking  of  our  day.  There 
is  no  use  in  shutting  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  a serious 
movement  is  on  foot  to  formulate  a non-miraculous 
Christianity.  A supernatural  Christianity  means  a 
Christianity  that  postulates  God  as  related  to  the  world 
and  to  religion  in  a certain  manner.  Here  we  battle 
against  atheism,  agnosticism,  pantheism  and  evolution- 
istic naturalism  in  all  its  forms.  Our  religion,  rightly  ap- 
prehended, claims  that  that  which  is  above  nature  is 
present  in  the  world  both  as  to  power  and  essence,  pre- 
serving and  governing  all  things  and  calling  all  men  unto1 
God  in  a particular  way.  The  supernatural  being  reveals 
himself  in  the  Christian  religion  in  a way  different  from 
that  in  any  other  religion.  He  brings  a special  revela- 
tion in  Christianity  to  men  for  their  salvation,  so  that  we 
have  an  absolutely  miraculous  element  in  it,  involving 
great  truths,  such  as  the  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God, 
the  supernatural  life  of  word  and  deed  of  Jesus 
Christ,  crowned  after  His  death  by  His  resurrection  and 


1 6 The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

ascension,  and  finally  the  act  of  supernatural  power,  in  the 
sinful  heart,  working  through  the  means  of  grace,  regen- 
erating it  and  renewing  it  into  the  image  of  Christ. 

But  it  has  now  become  the  fashion  to  ignore  whatever 
is  supernatural  and  reduce  Christianity  to  a bald  product 
of  man’s  intellect,  an  ethical  evolution  in  which  the 
supernatural  has  no  essential  part.  This  Sadducean  prop- 
aganda of  rationalizing  indicated  its  goal  in  the  late 
Dean  Stanley’s  famous  question — “whether  Unitarianism 
may  not  be  described  as  Christianity  freed  from  its  ab- 
surdities?” Its  present  leaders  are  yet  even  more  revolu- 
tionary. It  is  this  opposition  to  the  supernatural  which 
is  at  the  bottom  of  the  radical  criticism  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. It  proceeds  upon  the  assumption  that  any 
unique  inspiration  of  the  Bible  is,  as  many  of  its  ad- 
vocates arrogantly  declare,  “contrary  to  the  con- 
sensus of  sound  scholarship,”  and  as  involving 
an  extraordinary  operation  of  the  divine  power. 
Its  proposition  is  this,  that  nothing  in  the  records 
of  the  past  which  attributes  an  event  to  a super- 
natural agency,  or  which  contains  supernatural  elements 
can  be  accepted  as  historical.  Of  course  this  rules  out 
much  that  is  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  will  assuredly 
rule  out  much  of  the  New  Testament  when  its  work  is 
all  in.  It  deals  with  hypotheses  that  involve  desperate  ex- 
pedients and  astonishing  explanations,  such,  for  example, 
as  these, — that  the  tables  of  the  covenant  were  probably 
meteoric  stones,  that  the  ark  was  the  chest  to  hold  this 
fetich  of  Israel,  and  this  of  a New  England  preacher, 
who,  speaking  in  all  seriousness,  declared  that  the  feed- 
ing of  the  five  thousand  was  no  miracle  at  all,  that  Christ 
only  set  an  example  of  unselfishness  when  He  offered  to 
divide  His  frugal  store  with  the  multitude,  and  that, 
touched  by  His  offer,  the  people  brought  forth  their  lunch 
baskets  they  were  selfishly  concealing  and  made  a com- 
mon stock  for  a basket  picnic.  It  is  a process  that  would 
reduce  the  Bible  to  such  a ragged,  tattered  and  torn  con- 
dition that  even  some  of  the  critics  hesitate  to  follow 
their  own  logic  to  its  conclusions,  and  are  hence  left  in 
the  air. 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  17 

Now  the  propagandists  of  this  anti-supernatural  are 
polite.  They  claim  to  be  scientific.  They  pose  as  cult- 
ured. They  assure  us  that  they  take  delight  in  the  spirit- 
ual life.  But  the  end  of  the  crusade,  my  brethren,  must  be 
death  to  all  that  is  vital  in  religion.  In  preaching  it  ends 
in  a cold  code  of  ethics,  with  a vague  admixture  of  senti- 
mentalism and  much  of  philanthropic  talk  about  brother- 
hood. In  education  it  turns  colleges  and  universities  into 
schools  of  infidelity  or  refrigerators  of  religious  indiffer- 
ence. In  theology  it  makes  man  a center  and  ultimate 
achievement  of  all  being.  Instead  of  falling  downward,  he 
is  moving  upward.  In  religion  this  rationalistic  atmos- 
phere engenders  no  heat,  no  vision  is  obtained  and  no 
transfigurations  can  take  place.  If  this  desupernaturai- 
ized  religion  is  true  then  the  best  thing  to  do  in  the  inter- 
est of  economy  would  be  to  close  the  doors  of  all  the 
churches.  The  new  gospel  opens  an  easier  road  and  a 
short  cut  to  salvation  and  perfection.  It  presents  a royal 
road  to  heaven,  broad  and  beautiful,  and  not  strait  and 
narrow. 

We  are  hearing  much  about  faith  being  made  to  carry 
too  heavy  a burden,  that  it  must  unload,  that  if  it  will 
throw  overboard  one  part,  it  can  “cheerfully  bear  the 
other  part.”  There  are  men  in  the  pulpit  who  devote 
much  of  their  homiletic  skill  to  the  work  of  throwing 
things  overboard.  They  are  bent  on  saving  the  ship  by 
the  process  known  in  admiralty  law  as  “jettisoning  the 
cargo.”  A ship’s  crew  jettisons  the  cargo  when,  it  throws 
overboard  so  much  of  it  as  may  be  necessary  to  lighten 
the  craft  and  thereby  save  it  from  foundering.  But  those 
sailors  who,  under  the  stress  of  a panic,  cast  away  the 
most  valuable  portion  of  the  ship’s  contents,  who  throw 
overboard  the  chart,  log-book  and  compass,  instead  of  the 
ballast,  though  they  may  be  acquitted  of  an  evil  con- 
science, they  cannot  be  rightly  credited  with  either  cool- 
ness or  discretion.  It  is  futile  to  think  of  commending 
the  faith  by  even  whittling  down  the  proportion  of  the 
miraculous.  You  may  explain  the  manna  as  a freak  of 
nature ; you  may  say  that  Eutychus  was  only  stunned  by 
his  fall  from  the  attic  window.  But  if  you  have  left  the 


1 8 The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

virgin  birth,  the  resurrection  and  the  ascension,  what 
have  you  gained?  Granting  that  some  deny  the  faith, 
conceding  that  the  Church  is  buffeted  by  adverse  winds, 
the  proposal  to  jettison  those  articles  of  the  Church’s 
faith  which  tell  of  the  supernatural  is  not  likely  to  help 
matters.  If  the  church’s  hold  on  life  in  our  generation 
can  only  be  maintained  by  letting  .go  or  compromising 
those  great  affirmations  which  have  given  it  its  life  and 
its  victories,  then  in  all  seriousness,  may  men  not  ask,  Is 
the  Church  worth  saving? 

Thus,  my  brethren,  there  is  much  in  the  present 
religious  situation  in  our  country  that  is  indicative  of 
unsettlement,  uncertainty  and  unrest.  They  are  neither 
new  nor  unusual  conditions,  only  they  press  upon  us  in 
the  problems  of  our  own  day.  Not  old  foes  with  new 
faces,  but  with  their  old  faces,  and,  judged  aright,  de- 
serving to  have  the  old  names  of  earlier  times  attached, 
are  many  of  the  heresies  of  the  day.  But  the  sentiments 
and  views  I have  thus  attempted  to  outline,  are  to-day 
extensively  prevalent  all  over  our  land,  and  are  even 
seated  in  the  heavenly  places  of  the  Church  of  God, 
though  they  are  not  of  God,  nor  can  they  be  said  to  be 
for  God  except  in  a merely  subsidiary  sense.  As  in  the 
days  of  the  fickle  Galatians  many  men  are  quickly  moved 
to  the  advocacy  of  another  gospel.  They  are  not  averse 
to  the  espousal  of  such  as  is  no  gospel  at  all.  Even  in. 
some  cases  they  show  a willingness  to  take  up  with  the 
gospel  of  what  a bright  Englishman  calls  “the  sixpenny 
rationalism  of  the  railway  book  stall,  the  belated  mater- 
ialism which  njakes  vice  and  virtue  to  be  natural  products 
like  vitriol  and  sugar;”  and  what  another,  referring  to 
the  recent  theological  aberrations  of  the  Rev.  Reginald 
Campbell,  has  called  a “Pinchbeck  pantheism,”  and  the 
“second-hand  heterodoxies  of  the  Holborn  viaduct a 
gospel  that  is  nine  parts  made  up  of  platitudes  and  of 
which  the  remaining  tenth  is  fallacy.  It  involves  a tacit 
rejection  of  the  Christian  religion  as  a revelation  of 
specific  truth  from  God  Himself.  It  substitutes  for  the 
real  gospel  nothing  better  than  a mere  subjective  theory 
which  every  man  can  make  or  unmake  at  his  own  discre- 


in  the  Present  Religions  Sit  not  ion  in  this  Country.  19 

tion.  The  real  question  in  the  final  analysis  is  this, — 
whether  we  have  a religion  of  revelation  which  conveys 
to  us  the  mind  of  God.  or  a merely  human  scheme  that 
goes  no  further  than  the  mind  of  man.  In  spite  of  all 
the  pedantic  twists  and  turns  in  the  controversies  of  the 
day,  the  dividing  line  has  become  more  and  more  obvious 
and  is  now  plain  enough  to  be  seen  even  by  unsophis- 
ticated men. 

But  passing  on  now  to  the  second  and  more  specific 
part  of  our  subject, — What  is  the  mission  and  opportun- 
ity of  the  church  of  our  faith,  in  the  present  religious 
situation,  as  I have  attempted  to  indicate  what  that  sit- 
uation is? 

American  history  is  in  many  respects  unique.  For 
the  first  time  since  the  Church  passed  out  from  the  free- 
dom which  its  obscurity  and  weakness  had  given  it,  into 
the  light  and  publicity,  and  under  the  yoke  of  the  state 
in  the  fourth  century,  it  has  found  in  our  country  an 
opportunity  on  a large  scale  to  develop  its  thought  and 
to  form  its  life  under  the  unconstrained  operation  of  its 
own  inherent  forces.  In  that  opportunity  Lutheranism 
shares. 

He  would  be  wholly  ignorant  of  the  religious  situation, 
or  incapable  of  accurately  interpreting  the  signs  of  the 
times,  who,  in  the  ecstasy  of  a shallow  Lutheran  optim- 
ism. should  imagine  that  the  baneful  influences  in  religion 
I have  noted  have  left  no  sort  of  trace  on  the  religious 
thought  and  feeling  of  some  Lutherans.  But  the  Chris- 
tian faith  exists  not  in  single  pious  individuals,  but  has 
a corporate  existence  and  expression  as  well.  Christian 
doctrine  does  not  remain  a mere  matter  of  individual 
conviction  or  expression,  but  is  also  set  forth  as  the  mes- 
sage and  belief  of  the  churches.  This  being  true  of 
faith  in  its  individual  and  corporate  expression,  I ad- 
vance to  state  a truth  that  I am  sure  any  adequate  in- 
duction into  the  religious  situation  in  this  country  at 
this  time  warrants,  viz.,  that  at  this  hour  and  in  this 
land  no  denomination  of  Christians  in  its  position  as  a 
community  of  believers,  stands  so  firmly  and  unequivo- 
cally upon  the  basis  of  evangelical  truth  and  presents 


20  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

such  a positive,  homogeneous  and  unbroken  front  to 
the  radicalism  and  rationalism  of  the  day  as  our  own. 
We  have  our  denominational  shortcomings  known  to 
none  as  well  as  to  ourselves.  We  have  our  stubborn 
racial  proclivities,  which  at  times  and  under  stress,  ex- 
press themselves  in  not  the  most  amiable  type  of  the 
Christian  life.  They  are  begotten,  in  some  measure,  no 
doubt,  by  the  memory  of  heroic  struggles  of  rugged  men 
who  lived  in  very  unamiable  times  and  confronted  very 
unamiable  marplots  against  liberty,  righteousness  and 
the  gospel.  We  have  our  own  regretful  divisions  per- 
petuated, as  it  sometimes  seems,  at  the  expense  of  our 
efficiency  in  meeting  the  high  responsibilities  that  are  so 
manifestly  placed  upon  us.  But  in  this  country,  at  this 
hour,  Lutheranism,  in  all  its  branches,  so  far  as  the  ex- 
hibition of  its  faith  and  life  have  a corporate  expression, 
in  all  its  varied  organizations,  missionary,  philanthropic, 
and  educational,  in  all  its  colleges  and  seminaries  for  the 
training  of  its  youth,  and  in  all  its  publications  of  merit 
and  scholarship,  in.  all  the  ministrations  of  its  trained 
and  qualified  teachers  and  pastors,  is  confessing  the  old 
and  tested  truths,  which  have  given  it  its  name  and  his- 
tory in  the  earth,  and  that  unmodified  by  the  negative 
tendencies  and  destructive  heresies  I have  alluded  to. 
Lutheranism  in  this  country  is  yet  of  the  belief  that  the 
new  gospel  is  no  gospel  at  all.  It  still,  in  all  its  mani- 
fold divisions,  believes  with  the  Lord’s  great  apostle, 
that  there  is  but  one  gospel  and  that  there  can  be  but  one, 
and  that  the  gospel  of  salvation  by  the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ,  “even”  as  he  adds,  “as  we  believed  on  Christ 
Jesus  that  we  might  be  justified  by  faith  in  Christ,  and 
not  by  the  works  of  the  law,  because  by  the  works  of 
the  law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified.” 

Now  there  are  as  it  seems  to  me  historical  reasons 
why  Lutheranism  in  this  country  at  this  time  is,  so  far 
as  its  corporate  existence  is  concerned,  practically  unin- 
fluenced by  the  negative  and  latitudinarian.  tendencies 
which  are  now  working,  I regret  to  say,  deplorable  results 
in  some  other  communions.  We  have  had  our  experience 
with  the  earlier  rationalism  when  the  deism  of  England 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  21 

and  the  materialism  of  France  invaded  Germany  and 
found  the  soil  of  the  fatherland  more  than  half  prepared, 
in  consequence  of  the  prevalence  of  a philosophy  which 
asserted  that  “what  could  not  be  demonstrated  could  not 
be  believed.”  There  linger  with  us  as  with  no  other 
people  the  memories  of  down-grade  tendencies  which 
invaded  the  once  Pietistic  University  at  Halle,  and  of 
teachers  who  claimed  that  a man  could  be  a good 
Lutheran  and  at  the  same  time  assail  the  cherished 
beliefs  of  the  Church ; memories  of  how  that  these 
destructive  tendencies  were  transplanted  to  this  coun- 
try in  the  days  immediately  succeeding  the  wise  and 
heroic  Muhlenberg,  causing  in  our  earlier  history  a period 
of  deplorable  deterioration  from  the  pronounced  and 
sound  Lutheranism  of  former  days,  and  of  indifferentism 
to  what  had  made  Luther,  Spener  and  Francke  great  as 
reformer,  preacher  and  philanthropist.  There  linger  with 
us  the  memories  of  how  that  this  depressing  rationalistic 
spirit  was  so  prevalent  in  the  older  and  larger  bodies 
uniting  with  this  General  Synod  in  1820  that  it  was  found 
impossible  to  place  in  the  Constitution  of  this  body  at 
that  time  even  the  name  of  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
the  one  ecumenical  symbol  of  our  Lutheran  faith.  Yes, 
we  have  had  our  experience  with  rationalism  and  a down- 
grade species  of  theologizing,  with  decimating  religious 
theories  and  forces  during  the  prevalence  of  the  older 
rationalism  extending  from  1750  to  1823;  and  who  shall 
say  that  our  history,  and  our  emergence  at  last  with  our 
faith  intact,  from  the  blighting  influences  and  deteriorat- 
ing infection  of  those  negative  tendencies  have  not  the 
better  qualified  us  to  bear  our  testimony  in  such  a time 
as  this?  Who  shall  affirm  that  our  gratifying  growth 
(Juring  the  past  decade  has  not  come  at  exactly  the  right 
time  in  the  religious  history  of  our  country? 

Reverting,  therefore,  to  the  passages  of  Scripture  se- 
lected for  the  text,  this,  my  brethren,  I take  it  to  be  the 
mission  and  opportunity  of  Lutheranism  in  the  present 
religious  situation  in  this  country,  to  stand  fast  in  one 
spirit  and  with  one  soul  to  continue  to  bear  unbroken 
testimony  to  the  stiffly  evangelical  position  of  our 


22  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

church ; to  contend  for  a faith  that  is  of  apostoiic  trans- 
mission and  that  is  rooted  in  the  past ; and  to  hold  fast 
that  which  has  been  manifestly  approved  of  God  in  our 
history  as  a people  and  so  amply  attested  as  the  power 
of  God  unto  salvation.  It  is  our  great  privilege  and  our 
unmistakable  opportunity  to  hold  fast  that  which  is  good,, 
to  contend  for  a precious  possession  and  to  adhere  to 
that  which  has  been  approved.  Our  mission  here  and 
now,  withholding  nothing  and  exaggerating  nothing,  and 
speaking  the  language  of  the  time  and  place  where  Provi- 
dence has  placed  us,  is  to  re-assert  in  this  our  own  be- 
loved land  the  principles  which  made  the  Reformation 
possible  and  which  have  been  transmitted  to  us  in  their 
integrity  approved  of  God  and  still  adhered  to  by  mil- 
lions of  our  fellow-men.  Lutheranism  that  is  self  consist- 
ent, without  bigotry,  appreciates  the  undoubted  fact  that 
there  are  many  sincere  followers  of  the  Lord  whose 
theological  and  ecclesiastical  views  are  not  her  own ; she 
rejoices  that  other  branches  of  Protestantism  are  bring- 
ing men  to  a saving  knowledge  of  the  truth,  but  in  the 
passing  years  and  changes,  it  has  not  yet  found  cause 
to  change  the  terms  which  it  has  always  used  in  religion, 
or  to  slacken  the  emphasis  of  its  convictions  regarding 
Christian  truth. 

In  the  midst  of  the  religious  situation  marked  by  much 
mental  chaos,  our  beloved  church  still,  without  ambiguity 
or  evasion,  confesses  and  holds  fast  to  certain  great 
truths.  We  begin,  like  the  Bible,  with  God.  In  no  vague 
and  pantheistic  sense,  but  as  a personal  self-conscious 
being,  do  we  still  affirm  our  faith.  Without  conscious 
intelligence,  a personal  will,  a designed  purpose,  we  have 
nothing — nothing  but  time  and  space,  words  and  air; 
matter  without  mind,  change  without  reason,  confusion 
without  end.  We  are  out  on  a waste  and  wild  sea  with 
no  shore  possible  to  us  forever.  That  we  still  believe 
and  affirm.  God  manifest  in  the  flesh ; the  Christ  of  his- 
torv  and  of  experience,  expressing  God  to  us  and  repre- 
senting us  to  God.  We  still  stand  by  the  old  truth  which 
is  ever  new  and  eternally  fundamental,  that  the  Word 
was  made  flesh  and  dwelt  among  us.  We  behold  His 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  23 

"lory  who  is  the  “only  begotten  of  the  Father,  full  of 
grace  and  truth.”  Holding  to  clear  and  adequate  views 
as  to  who  the  Lord  is,  you  settle  every  other  question — 
miraculous  birth,  miraculous  work,  imperial  claim  to 
world  empire,  power  to  mediate  between  the  world  and 
God,  power  to  control  the  destinies  of  men.  That,  we 
still  affirm  and  believe.  The  work  of  Christ  for  out- 
redemption, — certain  it  is  that  if  He  does  not  substitute 
Himself  in  one  way  for  sinful  men.  He  must  in  another. 
In  some  way  the  saving  help  must  pass  from  Him  to 
them.  On  this  central  theme  we  still  do  say,  “God  forbid 
that  I should  glory  save  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  whereby  the  world  is  crucified  unto  us  and  we 
unto  the  world.”  We  still  believe  in  God  coming  into  this 
world  only  by  His  Son  ; in  God  saving  this  world  only 
bv  His  own  Son’s  death  and  making  men  righteous  by 
means  of  His  death.  This  great  fact  must  be  kept  free, 
by  some  body  of  Christians,  from  a mere  theory  of 
humanitarian  mitigation,  if  salvation  is  to  be  anything 
more  than  education  and  knowledge.  And  all  this  we 
still  gladly  believe  and  confess. 

Then  comes  faith  in  the  work  of  Christ,  simple,  thank- 
ful, penitent,  confiding  trust,  with  all  its  gracious  fruits 
of  pardon,  justification  and  acceptance  into  the  filial  rela- 
tion. Then  all  the  virtues  of  the  new  life;  the  putting  on 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  sacrifice  of  self  and  the 
service  of  mankind.  Then  the  means  of  grace,  the  word 
communicated  of  God  and  sacraments  not  denuded  of  all 
meaning  and  efficacy;  not  simply  means  of  our  approach 
to  God  but  of  God's  approach  to  us.  All  these  things  we 
still  believe  and  maintain  in  their  consistency  and  ef- 
ficiency. 

After  our  Lord’s  baptism  He  came  “preaching  the 
kingdom  of  God,”  and  what  did  He  preach?  Universal 
repen.tance  because  of  universal  sin.  “That  which  is 
born  of  the  flesh  is  flesh  “except  a man  be  born  again — 
Torn  of  water  and  the  Spirit,  he  cannot  enter  the  kingdom 
of  God ; the  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that 
which  was  lost,  came  as  God’s  free  gift,  because  God  so 
iloved  the  world : came  to  give  His  life  a ransom  for 


24  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

many;  and  whosoever  believeth  on  Him  shall  have  eternal 
life,  and  he  that  believeth  not  the  Son  shall  not  see  life, 
but  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  him.”  In  other  words. 
He  declares  the  facts  of  universal  sinfulness  and  ruin, 
the  ransom  or  rescue  wrought  by  the  sacrifice  of  Himself, 
salvation  only  through  faith,  the  gift  of  God’s  grace,  and 
awards  for  saint  and  sinner  alike  everlasting.  These 
great  truths  of  the  gospel,  my  brethren,  which  all 
Lutherans  everywhere  still  confess  in  their  integrity, 
have  an  antique  ring,  ’tis  true,  but  they  ring  on  forever. 
They  have  definiteness  and  endurance. 

There  is  no  church  big  enough  for  two  creeds  on  such 
vital  truths.  Serious  divergence  of  opinion  regarding 
them  must  be  divisive  and  engender  both  heresy  and 
weakness.  The  surrender  of  any  one  of  these  fundamen- 
tal evangelical  facts  is  the  surrender  of  the  citadel.  The 
Founder  of  Christianity  had  much  to  say  about  getting 
His  disciples  down  upon  rock-bottom,  and  they  them- 
selves believed  that  they  were  somehow  building  upon 
“the  chief  corner-stone,”  and  that  the  element  of  perma- 
nency was  one  of  the  most  valuable  assets  of  their  faith. 
I would  make  no  attack  upon  freedom  of  inquiry,  but  to 
afford  hospitality  to  everything  that  comes  along  in  the 
name  of  religion  because  it  is  advocated  by  personally 
unobjectionable  and  cultivated  gentlemen,  is  no  credit 
either  to  the  intelligence  of  the  head  or  the  goodness  of 
the  heart.  The  historical  evils  of  credulity  are  enormous, 
and  when  freedom  and  criticism  degenerate  into  icono- 
clasm,  truth  is  likely  to  get  put  down  as  well  as  error, 
and  some  sophisticated  Barabbas  gets  thrust  upon  us  in- 
stead of  the  Lord  from  heaven. 

There  is  in  our  day  a cant  of  liberalism  as  wearisome 
as  the  old  war-cries  of  intolerance  in  the  days  when  the 
grim  Puritan  snatched  the  prayer-book  from  the  hands 
of  the  churchman  and  when  the  stiff  churchman  in  his 
turn  compelled  the  Puritan  to  read  it  against  his  will. 
“We  have  not  only  given  up  burning  men  for  their 
opinions,”  said  the  witty  Irish  bishop  Magee  on  one 
occasion,  “but  we  have  also  given  up  thinking  there  are 
any  opinions  worth  burning  or  being  burned  for.” 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  25 

The  times  make  it  vital,  my  brethren,  that  we  learn 
this,  that  the  true  and  real  gospel  is  not  an  indefinable 
something  to  be  variously  interpreted  in  accordance  with 
every  man’s  theological  whimwhams  and  as  something 
that  possesses  no  powers  of  consistent  endurance  from 
generation  to  generation.  The  accent  of  certainty  again, 
needs  to  be  heard.  Affirmations  are  demanded  instead 
of  languid  acquiescence.  Men  must  think  together  if 
they  are  long  to  act  together.  Fellowship  in  doctrine  is 
the  only  enduring  bond  of  fellowship  in  service.  Luther- 
anism, as  I have  indicated,  has  its  delinquencies,  but  still 
it  cherishes  some  sturdy  beliefs  about  the  things  that 
cannot  be  shaken.  It  holds  fast  to  that  which  is  old  and 
good,  and  which  cannot  with  safety  be  surrendered,  and 
thinks  that  much  of  the  new  is  bad,  and  must  accordingly 
be  resisted.  It  is  opposed  to  cutting  loose  from  the  past 
on  the  assumption  that  we  are  so  wholly  modern  that 
nothing  old  applies  to  us.  It  still  believes  that  man  is 
the  same  old  sinner  that  man  has  always  been  ; that  he 
covets  and  lies  and  steals  and  kills,  that  he  breaks  his 
vows,  runs  away,  plays  the  hypocrite  and  pretender,  that 
he  still  does  all  the  mean  and  wicked  and  shameful  things 
that  ever  have  been  done;  that  if  he  has  used  the  arts  and 
advantages  of  our  civilization  to  He  more  sly  and  effect- 
ive, he  is  yet  the  same  old  sinner,  that  the  same  tempta- 
tions catch  him  as  of  old,  with  their  seduction  and 
destruction ; and  that  if  he  is  to  be  made  permanently 
better  it  must  be  by  some  power  for  righteousness  work- 
ing from  outside  himself,  and  as  the  result  of  what  is 
done  for  him  and  on  him  instead  of  what  he  can  do  him- 
self. We  as  a people  still  believe  in  the  supernatural, 
that  God  has  made  Himself  known  to  us  in  a divine  reve- 
lation in  the  Scriptures,  the  writers  of  which  were 
assuredly  inspired  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Reading  that 
Bible  in  the  light  of  all  that  history  teaches  us,  in  the 
light  of  all  that  real  science  teaches  us,  in  the  light  all  that 
a true  philosophy  teaches  us,  in  the  light  of  all  that  a 
legitimate  and  authenticated  criticism  teaches  us,  we  still 
believe  in  it  as  a book  given  of  God.  That  we  believe  so 
tremendously  that  we  will  not  allow  the  Bible  to  be 


26  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

classified  with  other  books  of  any  order.  We  still  believe 
in  a supernatural  and  not  an  evolved  Christ,  and  in  giving 
Him  a place  separate  and  apart  from  all  other  men,  and 
still  gladly  confessing  that  He  is  the  Son  of  God,  differing 
from  the  best  of  men  not  in  degree  only,  but  in  kind,  con- 
stituting the  one  living  and  personal  and  eternal  bond  of 
connection  between  the  human  race  and  its  God.  We 
still  believe  in  sacraments  from  which  all  that  is  super- 
natural has  not  been  eliminated',  sacraments  that  are  real 
channels  of  divine  grace  applying  to  men  the  promise 
of  the  gospel  concerning  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  offering 
through  earthly  elements  the  pledge  of  a grace  that  is 
assuredly  present.  We  reject  a devitalized  Bible,  a 
merely  human  Saviour,  and  a redemptive  system  out  of 
which  everything  that  is  really  redemptive  has  been  re- 
moved. We  hope  for  no  moral  inspirations  to  come  from 
theological  chaos,  and  from  pulpits  that  are  hesitant  and 
apologetic ; from  seminary  chairs  and  pulpits  made  weak 
not  by  too  much  dogmatism,  but  from  the  lack  of  the 
positive  note  and  the  authoritative  accent  born  of  great 
convictions  about  permanently  great  truths. 

My  reason,  fathers  and  brothers,  for  choosing  the  sub- 
ject of  this  evening,  is  my  own  profound  interest  in  it, 
and  also  from  the  feeling  that  we  need  possibly  to  be 
stirred  out  of  our  characteristic  disposition  to  keep  some- 
what in  the  religious  background,  and  moved  out  of  our 
slowness,  lest  we  leave  unstated  great  facts  that  have  in 
them  arousing  and  world-saving  power.  Speaking  as  a 
man  who  values  every  church  that  really  bows  before 
God  in  Christ,  but  who  at  the  same  time  longs  to  have 
the  great  Church  which  he  himself  espouses  with  a full 
allegiance  and  affection,  advance  to  a new  and  larger 
usefulness,  let  me  say  that  it  behooves  us  as  Lutherans, 
in  a time  smitten  by  religious  indefiniteness,  more  than 
ever  to  guard  well  our  treasures.  This,  I take  it,  will  not 
best  be  done  by  the  process  of  segregation,  and  shutting 
our  ears  to  the  din  of  battle  that  is  going  on  beyond  the 
borders  of  our  own  Israel.  Nor  will  it  be  done  by  settling 
down  into  a self-satisfied,  self-complacent  assurance  that 
we  have  the  citadel  and  the  firing  from  our  secure  denom- 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  27 

inational  ramparts  of  an  occasional  shot  at  the  enemy 
without.  If  what  others  than  Lutherans  are  saying  is 
true,  then  it  would  seem  that  the  hour  for  Lutheranism 
has  come  in  this  country. 

One  of  the  latest  of  the  many  biographies  of  Luther  is 
that  of  Prof.  John  Louis  Nielsen,  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal theological  school  at  Berea,  in  my  own  State  of 
Ohio.  In  that  book,  the  author  says  in  his  fine  estimate 
of  the  great  reformer’s  influence.  “Luther’s  theology  has 
exerted  a great  and  lasting  influence,  and  is  still  dominat- 
ing a great  portion  of  Christendom.  This  Luther’s  theo- 
logy may  yet  serve  as  a .guide-post  in  finding  a way  out 
of  the  present  day  difficulties.” 

If  this  be  true,  then,  at  this  hour,  speaking  with  all  due 
humility  and  consideration,  there  is  nothing  that  would 
help  our  country  more  religiously  than  a strong  infusion 
of  genuine  Lutheranism,  to  counteract  the  influences  of  a 
Christianity  that  is  made  very  attractive  by  the  deifica- 
tion of  humanity,  the  promise  of  salvation  by  education 
and  character,  and  the  reduction  of  sin  to  a phantom  and 
the  release  of  the  soul  from,  any  authority  but  its  own. 
And  this  that  1 have  been  saying  in  a homiletic  sort  of 
way  the  honored  President  of  our  country  has  been  say- 
ing from  a statesman’s  viewpoint.  This  is  why  we  object, 
in  a time  like  this,  to  changing  the  premises  of  our 
religion.  Neither  on  the  earth  nor  under  the  earth,  nor 
in  a Chicago  or  German  university,  has  any  other  gospel 
ever  been  discovered,  which  has  gone  to  the  sinful  heart 
of  man  with  such  a converting  power,  as  that  which  the 
great  apostle  preached,  the  gospel  for  which  we  still 
stand,  still  contend,  and  still  hold  fast.  Under  Paul  it 
shook  down  heathen  temples,  and  when  Luther  disen- 
tangled it  from  a gospel  of  works  proclaimed  by  a priest- 
hood, whose  works  could  not  save,  and  took  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  for  his  “little  Bible,”  he  shook  the  world 
loose  from  the  grasp  of  an  awful  ecclesiastical  tyranny 
and  inaugurated  the  modern  period  of  free  institutions 
and  free  salvation.  Real  beliefs,  sturdily  maintained, 
then  kindled  the  heart  and  soul.  They  will  do  the  same 
now  and  preserve  our  people  from  being  swamped  in  the 


28  The  Mission  and  Opporhcnity  of  Lutheranism 

bog  of  indeterminate  thinking.  They  will  cause  the 
Church  to  be  clothed  with  strength,  accepted  in  the  be- 
loved, justified  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  so  made  secure 
against  all  adversaries,  secure  against  all  evil  and 
adorned  with  all  the  graces  of  the  Spirit. 

There  is  only  one  divine  pathway  for  the  Church. 
Movement  along  that  line  may  not  be  so  rapid  or 
dazzling,  but  it  is  the  movement  of  safety  and  salvation. 
Mr.  Hawthorne,  in  his  fine  allegory,  “The  Celestial  Rail- 
way” represents  the  movement  of  worldly  religion  as  that 
of  a railway  train.  There  are  the  well  laid  track  and  ele- 
gant coaches.  Over  the  smoothly  graded  way,  laid 
where  once  were  the  “Slough  of  Despond,”  and  the  “Hill 
Difficulty,”  and  the  Valleys  of  “Humiliation”  and  the 
“Shadow  of  Death,”  and  the  dark  river,  the  swift,  luxu- 
rious train  glides  as  on  a holiday  excursion.  But  up  a 
steep  pathway  go  two  way-worn  pilgrims  afoot.  They 
clamber  along  the  dusty  way  in  strange  dress,  and  with 
quaint  wallet  and  staff,  and  as  the  elegant  train  sweeps 
by  them  the  passengers  scan  them  through  their  field 
glasses.  Mr.  Worldly  Wiseman  smiles  and  nods  and 
rallies  them  with  a polite  sarcasm,  and  the  engineer, 
whom  the  author  with  grim  humor  represents  as  Apol- 
lyon,  turns  on,  them  a well  aimed  jet  of  hissing  steam. 
But  Mr.  Hawthorne  reminds  us  that  these  uncouth  foot 
passengers — our  old  friends,  Christian  and  Faithful — are, 
after  all,  on  the  main  line,  and  that  the  gay,  thundering 
train  was,  after  all,  on  the  wrong  line. 

Let  us  be  on  the  right  line,  fathers  and  brethren, 
though  there'  be  only  two  of  us,  or  though  like  Enoch, 
we  are  alone  but  walking  with  God.  It  is  the  line  of  God 
the  everlasting  Father,  and  of  His  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Spirit — the  line  of  patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs, 
confessors  and  reformers — the  line  of  the  men  who  have 
carried  the  gospel  over  this  wide  land  and  into  the  ends 
of  the  earth. 

Now  there  are  some  things  essential,  if  in  the  largest 
and  truest  sense  Lutheranism  is  to  embrace  its  oppor- 
tunity and  fulfill  its  great  mission  in  this  land. 

i.  Permit  me,  out  of  your  abundant  goodness  to  say, 


in  the  Present  Religions  Situation  in  this  Country.  29 

that  if  Lutheranism  shall  make  progress  in  this  new  cen- 
tury and  not  become  a spent  cartridge ; if,  with  unflinch- 
ing courage  and  unfaltering  faith,  she  shall  go  forth  to 
meet  the  Philistines  and  Amalekites  of  our  day,  her  faith 
must  be  maintained  in  its  integrity.  She  must  not  go 
limping  into  the  conflict  weakened  by  modifications  and 
compromises.  She  must  remain,  with  a wise  adaptation 
to  our  day  and  our  tasks,  essentially  the  same  apprehen- 
sion of  the  gospel  of  to-day  and  yesterday.  Herein  is  the 
secret  of  her  strength.  Let  us  be  open-minded  and  char- 
itable to  all  scholarship  of  the  sanest  type : alert  in  all 
social  progress  and  in  the  practicable  application  of 
Christian  principles  to  the  problems  of  labor  and  capital, 
to  the  government  of  cities,  to  the  welfare  of  state  and 
nation,  but  let  us  hold  fast  to  that  type  of  faith  and 
religious  life  which  puts  the  emphasis  first  on  the  redemp- 
tion of  man  and  on  the  agencies  which  are  intended  to 
enrich  and  foster  man’s  spiritual  life.  Let  11s  beware  that 
we  do  not  smother  the  best  that  is  in  our  Lutheranism  as 
a factor  in  our  country’s  evangelization,  even  as  Tarpeia, 
in  the  legend,  was  smothered  under  the  golden  shields  of 
the  Sabine  soldiers. 

The  able  president  of  the  Baptist  Seminary  at  Roches- 
ter, New  York,  has  recently  been  sounding  this  ominous 
note : “We  seem  upon  the  verge  of  a second  Unitarian 
defection,  that  will  break  up  churches  and  compel  seces- 
sions in  a worse  manner  than  did  that  of  Channing  and 
Ware  a century  ago.”  A study  of  the  history  of  that 
movement  affords  no  encouragement  for  success  by  the 
method  of  a modified  system  of  compromises  and  an 
amended  evangelicalism. 

That  movement,  you  may  remember,  formulated  no 
creeds.  It  advocated  absolute  liberty  of  thought,  and  left 
the  sphere  of  faith  open  to  the  will  of  every  individual. 
It  rejected  all  the  characteristic  features  of  evangelical- 
ism. The  movement  was  declared  by  many  of  the  most 
accomplished  men  of  the  period  to  have  inaugurated  an 
era  of  spiritual  emancipation.  They  had  reformed  the 
Reformation.  There  was  a declaration  of  war  on  an  im- 
possible Trinity,  an  imaginary  regeneration,  an  unneces- 


30  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

sary  atonement,  and  a superfluous  redemption.  The 
movement  was  inaugurated  by  the  sentiment  and  rhetoric 
of  so  great  a man  as  Channing.  But  what  came  of  this 
new  reformation?  It  did  not  reform  at  all  either  saints 
or  sinners,  and  had  no  likeness  whatever  to  the  work 
of  Luther  in  an  earlier  century.  Everywhere  throughout 
this  land  the  churches  which  kept  the  faith  of  Paul  and 
Luther  increased  and  multiplied.  The  new  reformation 
from  the  very  beginning  was  useless  spiritual  quackery. 
Taking  from  the  Bible  its  inspiration,  throwing  the 
miracles  in  the  waste  basket,  the  enthronement  of  human 
nature,  removing  the  offense  of  the  cross  and  the  peril  of 
unbelief,  the  making  of  all  things  sweet  and  lovely — this 
was  a program  that  was  thought  to  be  irresistible  in  its 
attraction  for  the  people  who  had  groaned  for  so  long 
under  the  direful  burdens  of  evangelical  religion.  But 
the  whole  movement  was  a dreary  failure  and  a vain  ex- 
pectation. If  history  has  any  message  for  us,  my  breth- 
ren, it  is  this,  to  teach  us  to  hold  on  to  our  faith  in  the 
old  doctrine  of  an  inspired  Bible,  in  the  old  ideas  of  the 
fall  and  redemption,  the  old  warnings  of  judgment  and 
condemnation,  the  old  necessity  for  faith  and  regenera- 
tion; and  the  wisdom  of  God  as  superior  to  reason  as  a 
source  of  authority  in  the  greatest  concerns  of  life. 

2.  But  again,  suffer  me  to  say,  that  to  fulfill  our  mis- 
sion and  embrace  our  opportunity  Lutheranism  needs  to 
close  up  its  ranks  some.  Each  church  of  Christ  is  cer- 
tainly the  best  church  for  its  own  members  and  for  its 
own  work.  But  in  consequence  of  the  prejudice  and  in- 
subordination of  partially  sanctified  human  nature  it  may 
not  be  rendering  as  effective  service  as  it  might  under 
more  favorable  conditions.  If,  as  religious  movements 
in  this  country  now  seem  to  indicate,  we  are  moving  to- 
ward a mighty  conflict  within  the  fold  of  Protestantism 
itself,  for  the  very  principles  which  gave  it  life  from  the 
beginning,  and  if  in  this  battle,  as  our  present  position 
seems  to  indicate,  our  church  is  destined  to  form  a bul- 
wark of  Biblical  truth  and  teaching,  is  it  not  deplorable 
that  we  cannot  present  something  of  an  unbroken  front, 
that  we  cannot  front  to  the  foe  in  solid  phalanx,  holding 
fast  that  which  we  have  found  good  and  effective,  and 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  3 1 

contend,  defensively  and  offensively,  for  the  faith  once 
for  all  delivered  unto  the  saints.  In  a real  unity  of  the 
faith  I am  persuaded  that  there  is  among  us  to-day  more 
of  an  adherence  to  the  form  of  sound  words  than  now 
characterizes  any  other  body  of  Christians  in  the  land. 
The  unity  of  Lutheranism  never  is  or  can  be  that  of  a 
sand  heap,  nor  even  of  a work  of  art,  but  that  of  a living 
organism  animated,  after  all,  by  the  same  sap  from  the 
roots  to  the  remotest  twig  on  the  farthest  limb.  But 
while  there  is.  as  I take  it,  among  Lutherans  much  unity 
in  the  faith  we  are  yet  sadly  separated  because  of  divisive 
tendencies  known  to  you  all.  I am  no  dreamer  about 
any  hurried  and  forced  organic  unity.  But  the  fact  that 
we  are  charged  with  a solemn  responsibility  makes  it  all 
the  more  necessary  for  the  cause  of  truth  we  hold  as  im- 
portant for  the  world  to  know,  and  all  the  more  rational 
that  we  forget  our  ancient  battle-fields,  allay  our  prej- 
udices and  foster  that  charity  which  becometh  Christian 
men.  I ask,  in  all  seriousness,  when  the  citadel  of  our 
faith  is  beleaguered  and  the  enemy  is  casting  trenches 
about  the  old  fundamental  strongholds,  whether  this  is 
any  time  for  Lutherans  to  be  spending  any  part  of  their 
strength  in  hewing  and  girding  at  each  other?  This  is  no 
time  for  Lutherans  to  be  quibbling  in  a pedantic  fashion 
over  the  mint,  anise  and  cummin  of  confessional  ques- 
tions, and  for  keeping  apart  the  one  from  the  other  over 
problems  that  belong  to  the  inscrutable  counsels  of  the 
Almighty  and  fostering  harmful  competitions  in  the  same 
general  religious  estate. 

At  the  Presbyterian  Brotherhood'  in  Indianapolis, 
some  months  ago,  the  loyal  sons  of  that  great  church 
were  roused  to  great  enthusiasm  by  the  strong  and  in- 
spirational speech  of  a Canadian  member.  His  note  to  the 
sons  and  brothers  of  his  great  communion  was  sounded 
out  in  the  ancient  Gaelic  clarion  call,  “Sons  of  the 
Gael,  shoulders  together!”  Sons  of  the  men  who  stood 
with  Luther  in  the  stormy  days  when  our  history  began 
at  Wittenberg,  Worms  and  Augsburg;  sons  of«  the  men 
who  followed  Gustavus  Adolphus,  “the  Lion  of  the 
North,”  the  hero  of  the  great  struggle  which  preserved 
to  our  fathers  the  heritage  of  their  faith  : sons  of  the  men 


32  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

who  were  taught  in  the  school  of  Spener,  the  indefatig- 
able pastor  and  preacher,  and  of  Francke,  the  scholar  and 
philanthropist;  sons  of  men  who  were  the  contemporaries 
of  Muhlenberg,  organizer,  preacher  and  missionary — we, 
too,  have  an  inspirational  history  and  church  ancestry. 
We,  too,  should  get  our  shoulders  and  our  hearts  together 
for  the  coming  battle.  We  need  an  end  of  strife,  the  de- 
lightful silence  after  battle,  an  end  of  the  antagonisms 
which  only  bad  men  applaud.  “Lose  no  opportunity,” 
said  John  Wesley  in  his  day,  “in  declaring  to  all  men  that 
the  Methodists  are  one  people  in  all  the  world.”  Let  us 
lose  no  time  to-day  in  letting  this  country  know  that,  at 
least  upon  the  great  issues  to  which  I have  alluded,  all 
Lutherans  here,  and  everywhere  in  all  this  land,  notwith- 
standing our  sometime  uncharitable  judgments  of  one 
another,  are  one  in  a common  faith  that  is  as  yet  un- 
touched by  the  cold  hand  of  negation  and  rationalism. 

And  you  will  permit  me,  my  brethren,  to  say  that  this 
body  of  ours,  this  beloved  General  Synod,  from  its  posi- 
tion, its  age,  and  the  principles  and  purposes  announced 
at  its  organization,  is  best  adapted  to  set  the  example  in 
this  work  of  unifying  our  forces.  It  may  not  be  in  our 
power  to  effect  unions,  but  we  can  keep  our  door  open, 
we  can  keep  our  organization  in  condition  to  invite  the 
others  and  let  them  know  that  we  desire  that  which  will 
better  adapt  us  to  meet  the  responsibilities  of  our  larger 
time.  We  can  foster  the  spirit  of  the  fathers,  who  in 
their  day  even,  longed  for  better  things.  Let  me  ad- 
duce here  the.  testimony  of  two  of  them,  both  able  and 
widely  useful  and  influential  in  their  day,  and  men  who 
served  this  body  in  all  fidelity.  Just  thirty  years  ago  in 
the  Diet  of  1877,  Dr.  F.  W.  Conrad  said:  “To  see  her 
divisions  healed,  her  scattered  forces  united  and  her 
mighty  energies  concentrated  in  the  prosecution  of  her 
great  mission  in  this  western  world — this  has  been  the 
ecclesiastical  idol  of  my  life.”  In  the  same  meeting  the 
late  Dr.  J.  A.  Brown  said  this:  “If  any  are  ambitious  to 
see  the  divisions  of  the  Lutheran  church  perpetuated,  to 
see  her  strength  frittered  away  in  feeble  and  unpromising 
efforts,  to  see  one  part  of  the  Church  arrayed  against 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  33 

another,  whilst  the  hosts  of  darkness  present  a united 
front  against  our  advance;  if  they  are  satisfied  to  live 
and  die,  having  achieved  the  glory  of  keeping  alive  con- 
troversies which  centuries  of  debate  and  strife  have  done 
little  or  nothing  to  settle,  let  them  make  their  own  choice. 
I envy  them  not  their  following  or  their  glory.”  Is  there 
a man  in  this  body  who  would  sound  a discordant  note 
from  that  of  these  effective  and  honored  leaders  among 
11s  in  the  days  when  divisive  forces  were  at  work  among 
us  as  they  are  not  to-day?  In  our  day  we  need  to  be 
watchful  that  individualism  and  provincialism  are  not 
magnified  so  that  we  be  in  danger  of  sacrificing  our  ef- 
fectiveness in  the  conflict  for  that  which  is  fundamental 
to  Protestantism. 

3.  But  once  more,  if  we  are  to  fulfill  our  mission  and 
embrace  our  opportunities,  we  must  appreciate  our  own 
day  and  place.  Our  present  day  Lutheranism  in  this 
country  is  no  outcast  from  the  inheritance  of  a rich  and 
glorious  past.  We  are  not  separate  from  Lutheran  his- 
tory ; from  the  love  and  communion  of  our  fathers  in  the 
faith;  from  its  martyrs  and  confessors;  from  its  holy 
men  and  saintly  women  ; from  its  hymns  of  adoration  and 
praise,  its  conflicts  and  triumphs,  its  lofty  and  eternal 
truths  settled  long  ago.  But  splendid  and  inspiriting  as 
Lutheranism  has  been  in  the  past,  our  church  cannot 
live  and  thrive  and  fulfill  its  God-appointed  mission  by 
magnifying  and  extolling  that  which  is  past.  We  are  not 
to  settle  down  into  self-satisfaction  over  the  deeds  of  the 
fathers.  We  are  conservative,  but  we  must  be  progres- 
sive. Each  age  has  its  own  theological  work  to  do.  The 
sixteenth  century  could  not  pronounce  all  that  Lutheran- 
ism has  to  say  to  this  world.  As  one  of  the  best  accred- 
ited scholars  and  teachers  of  our  church  and  day  in  this 
country  has  said : “The  Church  of  every  age  and  every 
land  has  a peculiar  service  in  the  development  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  to  perform.” — Henry  E.  Jacobs.  We 
must  deliver  our  message  in  the  time  and  place  where 
Providence  has  called  us.  The  backward  look  may  be- 
come a means  of  tarrying  that  results  in  paralysis. 
Lutheranism,  to  justify  itself  as  worthy  of  to-day,  must 


34  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism 

answer  to-day’s  needs.  We  honor  the  fathers;  but 
we  are  here  and  now  in  our  own  time  and  place.  The 
iron  of  the  fathers  may  be  in  us.  Let  us  hope  that  it 
is.  But  it  is  of  but  little  worth  if  it  do  not  brace  us 
for  the  new  day  and  the  new  duties.  The  beauty  of  the 
fathers  may  be  upon  us.  Let  us  so  hope.  But  unless  it 
move  us  to  better  and  larger  things  for  the  kingdom  of 
God,  the  world  will  be  made  no  richer.  Into  our  fold  we 
may  honestly  and  eagerly  ask  others  to  come,  not  because 
of  what  our  fathers  did,  but  because  of  what  we  propose 
to  do.  I have  noticed  in  our  harbors  that  the  guns  for 
defence  always  point  the  way  the  enemy  would  probably 
come.  The  Church’s  battle  in  our  time,  as  in  every  time, 
has  its  own  peculiarity.  New  approaches  demand  new 
defences.  “In  their  own  day  shall  the  Lord  of  hosts  be 
for  strength  to  them  that  turn  the  battle.” 

Fathers  and  brethren,  we  are  at  the  gateway  of  a new 
century.  Behind  us  are  the  years  of  our  fathers ; around 
us  is  the  heritage  they  have  given  us;  before  us  is 
the  land  yet  to  be  possessed.  We  regard  with 
gratitude  to  God  the  heritage  of  our  church.  We  thank 
Him  for  its  beginning,  its  progress  and  its  hopeful  pres- 
ent. We  praise  Him  for  the  faith  of  our  fathers,  for 
the  truth  they  guarded  and  have  handed  to  us ; for  the 
lives  they  lived  and  for  their  steadfast  and  heroic  labors. 
We  accept  reverently  the  responsibilities  of  our  place, 
and  pray  the  God  of  our  fathers  to  make  us  worthy  to 
enter  into  their  labors  and  to  push  forward  in  our  time 
the  Church  they  loved  and  planted  in  the  days  of  priva- 
tion and  discouragement. 

It  may  be  that  the  times  are  full  of  danger.  It  may  be 
that  the  yeasty  condition  of  human  society  for  the 
time  affects  the  Church  ; that  the  poor  and  the  rich  are 
not  at  ease  with  one  another ; that  the  material  and  phy- 
sical gratification  of  the  day  are  alluring;  that  the  pride 
of  intellectualism  is  deadening;  and  that  the  echo  of  the 
Lord’s  voice  comes  back  from  many  a ministry.  “We 
have  piped  unto  you  and  you  have  not  danced,  we  have 
mourned  unto  you  and  you  have  not  lamented.”  But 
when  have  the  times  not  been  out  of  joint?  Never  in  the 


in  the  Present  Religious  Situation  in  this  Country.  35 

past  has  man  felt  the  need  of  true  peace  of  heart  more 
than  to-day,  never  has  there  been  an  open  door  of  spirit- 
ual effort  more  inviting  than  to-day.  Contrast  the  aspect 
of  this  decade  of  this  century  with  that  which  faced  the 
Church  in  this  country  in  the  years  immediately  preced- 
ing the  organization  of  this  body.  The  dew  of  youth 
was  then  on  the  missionary  enterprise.  The  Church  did 
then  indeed  “face  a frowning  world.”  It  was  the  heyday 
of  cheap  and  boastful  infidelity.  The  horizon  was  blaz- 
ing with  the  camp-fires  of  the  Church’s  enemies.  The 
air  rang  with  predictions  of  the  speedy  disappearance  of 
Christianity  from  the  earth.  In  that  day  Thomas  Paine, 
who,  as  one  has  truly  said,  resembled  “a  mouse  nibbling 
at  the  plumage  of  an  archangel,”  was  picking  flaws  in 
the  Bible  and  heralding  the  dawn  of  “the  age  of  reason.” 
Hume  not  many  years  before  had  been  expending  the 
strength  of  his  rare  intellect  in  a futile  effort  to  demon- 
strate the  impossibility  of  the  miraculous,  and  Gibbon 
had  been  using  his  richly  furnished  brain  in  an  effort  to 
explain  the  triumphs  of  Christianity  without  divine  as- 
sistance. Voltaire  had  been  snarling  out  his  contempt 
for  religion  and  snickering  at  everything  that  has  brought 
help  or  hope  to  a bad  world.  That  era  in  general  has 
been  called  “the  Pentecost  of  unbelief.”  It  was  a 
millennium  of  infidelity  which  proved  to  be  a veritable 
festival  of  the  abomination  of  desolation.  The  times  are 
full  of  perils,  I admit,  but  the  situation  is  as  much  changed 
from  that  which  faced  our  fathers  as  though  the 
machinery  of  the  planet  had  been  reversed  and  the  globe 
were  revolving  the  other  way.  The  note  of  victory  ought 
to  be  in  all  our  growing  ranks  and  the  shout  of  triumph 
on  our  lips.  Could  that  little  band  of  faithful  men,  who 
organized  this  General  Synod  less  than  one  hundred 
years  ago,  look  in  upon  our  convention  to-day,  represent- 
ing as  we  do  a great  church,  well  equipped  for  the  work 
which  it  is  called  to  do,  in  regions  which,  at  the  time  of 
their  assembling,  were  an  unbroken,  wilderness — if  they 
could  have  foreseen  that  they  were  organizing  for  a 
church,  which  in  less  than  one  hundred  years  would 
cover  a territory  more  than  double  the  size  of  the  Roman 


36  The  Mission  and  Opportunity  of  Lutheranism. 

empire  when,  it  was  said  to  rule  the  world,  how  impres- 
sive and  eventful  would  the  work  have  seemed  to  be, 
which  in  humility  and  wisdom,  they  were  then  assembled 
to  do.  What  if  they  could  have  foreseen  that  to-day  all 
over  this  continent  there  stand  side  by  side  the  Lutheran 
and  the  Romanist,  for  example,  the  teacher  face  to  face 
with  the  priest,  the  open  Bible  confronting  the  confes- 
sional, liberty  opposing  tyranny,  the  obedience  of  Christ 
resisting  the  obedience  of  Rome? 

We  have  entered,  men  of  my  own  age  and  younger 
brethren,  into  their  labors.  But  we  are  here  and  now. 
And  accordingly  a very  solemn  responsibility  rests  upon 
this  meeting  which  is  assembled  to  carry  on  the  work 
which  they  so  well  inaugurated.  While  we  must  always 
be  true  to  the  doctrines  and  spirit  of  our  one  only  God 
and  Saviour  and  to  every  usage  and  doctrine  which  is 
essential  to  the  integrity  of  our  beloved  church,  we  should 
carefully  consider  the  circumstances  which  surround  us 
and  conform  ourselves  to  the  peculiar  condition  and 
necessities  of  the  people  among  whom  we  live,  meeting, 
as  best  we  may,  with  our  own  particular  apprehension  of 
the  gospel,  the  wants  of  our  heterogeneous  and  shifting 
community.  While  we  continue  to  walk  in  the  old  paths, 
let  it  be  with  an  accelerated  pace  and  with  eyes  looking 
forward  and  not  backward. 

May  the  grace  of  God  so  abide  in  and  be  manifested 
through  our  great  communion,  that  it  shall  become  in- 
creasingly a source  of  genuine  spiritual  blessing  to  all 
mankind.  May  the  Spirit  of  God  preside  over  us  at  this 
time  and  give  unto  us  a far-seeing  and  comprehensive 
vision,  a generous  and  discriminating  charity,  an  earnest 
and  self-forgetting  desire  to  set  forward  the  work  of  our 
Lord  in  this  great  republic,  so  that  His  name  may  be 
honored  and  a great  multitude  be  brought  into  the 
Church.  May  the  spirit  of  our  ascended  Lord,  who  died 
on  the  cross  for  the  world’s  salvation,  so  live  in  all  our 
members  that  we  may  help  to  hasten  the  day  when  a pure 
faith  and  a pure  life  shall  be  the  common  possession  of  all 
peoples,  when  Christ  shall  reign  in  righteousness  from 
the  mountains  unto  the  sea,  and  from  the  rivers  unto  the 
ends  of  the  earth. 


V 


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